Gary War and Purple Pilgrims take a break from headlining Space Arena shows to release split LP on Upset the Rhythm

Across the solar system, on a planet ruled by giant cats where it’s always Halloween, Gary War and Purple Pilgrims are huge, galactic superstars. Miley Cyrus is nothing. There is no Nancy Grace. Schoolchildren are required to learn entire pages of dialogue from Tarkovsky’s Solaris, and sure it’s just a lot of silence and pensive yearning looks aimed at SPACE, but still. Kids know it. It is from deep within this alternate wonderland that Upset the Rhythm releases records, and from whose mythical forge the upcoming Gary War/Purple Pilgrims split LP was birthed.

The UK-based label’s release is available as a silver or black vinyl record or digital release (whatever tickles yer fancy) come November 4. You get four tracks from Gary War and three from Purple Pilgrims, but one is called “Druidical Dreamer,” which counts for at least seven because it talks about druids and how awesome they were. Yankee dude Gary War has previously crafted records for Sacred Bones and Captured Tracks (as well as Spectrum Spools for his most-recent release) and this is Hong Kong via New Zealand sisterly duo Purple Pilgrims’ first label release since a private press debut that only Volcanic Tongue heard, apparently. Both groups are in the middle of touring Europe, with a few dates to go.

Bill Callahan is going on a tour of America this fall. He will travel by car or bus or van, but we can’t really know, can we? Can’t really know, not unless we ask.

Bill Callahan will also go on a tour of Europe this coming winter, the winter of 2014. He will take a plane, then a car or bus or van, then probably another plane, and on. Once again, we can’t really know. Can’t know unless we ask.

A Donald Sutherland interview plays on the radio. “Enough about my acting career,” he says. “Bill Callahan will be playing dates with Mick Turner, Judson Claiborne, and The Howling Hex.” Long shot of Bill’s face.

Sometimes Bill Callahan goes to a bar that I occasionally visit. At least, that’s what they say. I’ve never seen him. Hrmm.

As you might’ve guessed prior to this announcement, a “history of every one” apparently requires more than just a full-length album to get the job done, regardless of how unsurprisingly erratic and worthwhile a particular full-length might be. Try as Wikipedia and Steven Hawking and the NSA might to collude and eventually establish a comprehensive database containing all the world’s knowledge, as well as embarrassing information about every individual on the planet, they’ve somehow neglected to explore the avenue of the limited-edition 7-inch, which, though few will publicly acknowledge, has the mystical capacity to breathe superfluous but powerful life into any given project and/or subject! Earlier this year I had a 7-inch made of my laptop fan revving up. Subsequent to playback, my ‘S’ key now allows the production of salamanders, promptly expelled from my disc drive. Why? I don’t know. I don’t know.

Not so much superfluous as just a thing people probably wouldn’t mind listening to, Bill Orcutt has a limited-edition 7-inch box set out now, entitled Twenty Five Songs. On the “supplementing a project” front, it’s certainly worth pointing out that said collection of 7-inches contains an “early/alternate” version of A History of Every One, as the 25 tracks spread out over 13 records are essentially of that album’s recording sessions. A reemphasis on the limited: Twenty Five Songs comes in an edition of 70, all of which may well have been nabbed at the time of this article’s publication. How unfortunate if that is the case. You too could have had salamanders. And noisy guitar-playing.

Heads up: corporations are people, and like all people except for Jehovah’s Witnesses, they have birthdays. Merge Records’ 25th is next year, so you better get them something nice. Maybe like $125 or something? Hold on, hold on, I know that seems like a lot of dough, but you know Merge, he’ll probably turn right around and give you a box full of treasures for your trouble. You’ll say, “Merge, this is too much, it’s not my birthday, it’s yours, you silly goose,” but he’ll insist, and later you’ll find out he donated the money you gave him to Oxfam America anyway. You’ll smile to yourself at how thoughtful and selfless Merge is. Then you’ll think about it a little longer and you’ll start to wonder if it’s actually possible to be selfless, or if selfishness is just baked in to the human condition. You’ll use that line of thought to justify eating your roommate’s last piece of cheesecake in bed.

While the mashed-together pieces of graham cracker and sinfully decadent cheesecake are careening through your digestive tract, you’ll take a closer look at the box Merge gave you and you’ll be impressed. The box, which Merge calls Or Thousands of Prizes will have a whole of bunch of neat stuff in it, like a magic wand that will grant you first access to special Merge birthday events as well as entry into giveaways throughout 2014, an exclusive t-shirt commemorating Merge’s 25th birthday, a “surprise” 12-inch record, and an e-book called The Merge Records Companion. Best of all, there will be a little note inside that says, “I know how much you wish it was still the 90s, so I made a subscription 7-inch subscription series just for you.” The subscription will consist of 12 7-inches on colored vinyl delivered straight to your door. They’ll mostly be splits between Merge artists, including contributions from Mikal Cronin, Mount Moriah, The Mountain Goats, Destroyer, and not Green Day. Also inside the box will be a special collector’s box for all these 7-inches and digital downloads for all the tracks! It’s a very full box!

As you bask in the warm glow of this inverse-birthday gift, a sound will meet your ears. “What’s that?” you’ll wonder. “Is that… is that Superchunk covering my third favorite Misfits song?” Why yes it is! Celebrating Halloween in one of the many ways they’ve probably figured out throughout their lives, Superchunk have recorded a cover of The Misfits’ classic song “Children in Heat,” and you can stream that sucker below, even if it is November 1. If you give Merge the gift of pre-ordering before November 30, your order will come with a free download of the track. And don’t forget, next year is also when Tiny Mix Tapes finally becomes a man. Shit’s gonna be a Bar Mitzvah for the ages.

Action Bronson is a rapper/chef from New York City. There is only one photo of him in existence and it is this one. Nah, just kidding. There’s plenty of pictures of Action Bronson out there. Like this one and this one and, okay, fine, this one is an actual picture of Action Bronson. Party Supplies is a producer, also based out of New York, who teamed up with Bronson for their acclaimed Blue Chips mixtape last year. As you may or may not know (if you do, just humor me, okay?), Blue Chips was (very loosely) based on the 1994 Nick Nolte basketball film of the same title. While Blue Chips (movie) never had a sequel, one question has lingered in scholars’ minds: what if it did have a sequel? This is a question that Blue Chips 2, the new mixtape from Action Bronson and Party Supplies, intends to answer.

Assuming all is well in the world, Blue Chips 2 should be out November 1, which is today; good news: it’s here! If you’re not quite ready for it yet, introduce yourself by watching the tape’s teaser trailer, featuring Bronson as a high-powered NBA mogul and Party Supplies as, I don’t know, some guy? According to the tape’s press release, the trailer alludes to his involvement in the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals game 7 between the Knicks and Pacers. If you know anything about basketball, those words may mean something to you.

If you’d like to know more about Action Bronson and the concept of food, check out the food series he’s doing with Vice. He’ll also be putting out a new full-length album through VICE/Atlantic at some point next year. It is tentatively titled “Man Forced to Eat Own Beard,” in my mind.

Hey, all you Bandcamp-savy indie rockers out there already know Brooklyn’s singin’, songwritin’, splash-makin’ Waxahatchee, don’t you? Sweet, us too! In fact, we like her scrappy brand of folky, grunge-y, indie rock so damn much that we usually don’t even bother to review it! (Besides, we’ve got to save all of those Foucault quotes and whatnot for where they really count: in Nick Cave reviews and shit).

Either way, she and I were having a little gelato at Whole Foods earlier today, and she mentioned the fact that she’ll be hitting the road for a couple of sweet shows this winter to help promote her recent album, Cerulean Salt (along with her twin sister’s band Swearin’, Columbus, Ohio’s All Dogs, and Philly PA’s Cayetana); and I thought that sounded pretty fun and cool and DIY and Bandcamp-y and fair trade-y and shit like that, so I just sorta decided on my own that I’d really like to tell y’all about them when I got back to my desk. And now, welp, here I am; so here you go. And, well, that’s all there is to it! I mean, I definitely don’t work for Bandcamp.